Celebrating 100 years of NZ manufacturing
and 20 years of Buy New Zealand Made

New Zealand has always been thought of as a young country of opportunity but also a country of risk-takers. Through the years people have sought business chance as a way to wealth, full employment and a creative way of providing security for the needs and wellbeing of a dependant family. These same aspirations continue today.

Now, in the first decade of the 21st century, we can drive in comfort around the commercial areas of NZ city outskirts and be rather exhilarated by the general buzz of activity and noise coming from substantial new buildings or the converted sheds and garages of enthusiastic entrepreneurs. This, despite the fact that many of these small businesses have to compete on very small profit margins with similar manufactured products imported into NZ from overseas! Other successful NZ manufacturers have grown into considerable impressive companies with an interesting range of products sent to world wide markets. This has meant however, that of necessity, some companies often look to moving manufacturing processes overseas where labour is cheaper, in order to sell more of their products at a competitive price on foreign markets by maintaining costs to a minimum and to ensure their shareholders are happy.

The Buy New Zealand Made organisation held a competition during April 2008 to celebrate 100 years of New Zealand manufacturing in recognition of the very first New Zealand Industries Week which was held in 1908. In those early days, the far thinking Shopkeeper’s Association did well to get their members to display a wide variety of NZ made goods in shop windows throughout the land and to persuade the public to go out and shop with pride for products made in their new, young country. The New Zealand Industries Week of 1908 was a very successful promotion ostensibly involving the manufactured goods of producers from the three main NZ city areas of a largely undeveloped country. The future was beginning to look bright and the public were encouraged!

Initial impetus for the promotion was due to the previous achievements derived from other smaller exhibitions held since the mid 1860’s through to the turn of the century when alliances were formed between local governments, private associations and organisations as well as the sellers and producers of goods with the main aim being awareness of what was happening in the production and business sectors. For instance, the 1885 industrial exhibition showed several hundred exhibits of what one would think would be somewhat unusual luxurious goods in those days, such as cosmetics, right through to the more obvious farming implements and industrial machinery being shown and seen by interested and proud New Zealanders.

Although the same Buy NZ Made message had been projected through the Manufacturers Association and the NZ Trade Union movement since 1988 it wasn’t until later, that the Green Party in NZ politics, pressured the Labour Government, when forming a coalition in the MMP environment, to promote a more vibrant “Buy Kiwi Made” initiative. This eventually came about and is now well underway due to the Buy New Zealand Made organisation having been successful in gaining government funds to set up many new awareness and financial initiatives to achieve that goal. Funding was made available for a short period to business applicants to help expand their commercial ideas or projects of merit; to further improve public awareness of buying local NZ products by way of advertising and media opportunities; in supporting smaller manufacturers through regional initiatives and also responsibility for holding more public events to better portray NZ companies. These efforts have the additional benefit of heartening the public with a sense of pride and worth during a time of world gloom and doom made worse by the worrisome impact of climatic change on our global environment.

Buy New Zealand Made came into fruition in 2008. The organisation which is really a company in its own right are celebrating this achievement with a huge national wide push to encourage the sale and purchase of genuine New Zealand made products. The well recognised blue and red kiwi in a triangle logo has been further developed into several different shapes, colours and designs to attach to appropriate labelling on the products of manufacturers who are members of the Buy New Zealand Made organisation.

Author: Marilyn Marshall, Managing Director of The Beautiful Box Company Ltd, Christchurch, New Zealand an online NZ gift company called www.giftboxes.co.nz